Osami Nakasugi

The National Institute for Environmental Studies, Environmental Chemistry Division
(16-2, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0053 Japan)

Abstract

For the purpose of preventing adverse effects on human health caused by dioxins in the environment, a new law was established last year. As humans are exposed to dioxins through various environmental media, consideration of this transport among the environmental media is important for decreasing exposure levels of dioxins to humans. But, environmental behavior was not reflected in the setting of environmental standards on account of a lack of scientific knowledge. Therefor the standards must be amended as soon as sufficient knowledge is gained. However, emissions of dioxins into the environment will be decreased by enforcement of the law. The remediation of soil, sediment and former disposal sites in which dioxins accumulated, is essential to immediately lower exposure levels. But the implementation of the remediations which are more expensive, must be decided on based on a more precise risk assessment from site to site.

Key words: dioxins, coplanar-PCBs, risk management, government policy, environmental standards